September 15, 2012
RE: Protesting against Japan’s Illegal “Nationalization” of Chinese Diaoyu Islands
Where-as
The Diaoyu Islands (also called Senkaku Islands in Japan) are unequivocally territories of China, which Japan failed to return to their rightful owner after World War II.
And,
Numerous historical documents, some dating back to as early as 1403, recorded the Diaoyu Islands as part of China. Throughout history, fishermen from China have been fishing around the Diaoyu Islands. However, Japan seized the islands and Taiwan after the Sino-Japanese war in 1894.
And,
During World War II the Cairo Declaration of 1943 asserted that “Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed.” Japan accepted the terms of the Declaration when it surrendered at the end of World War II. With Japan’s return of Taiwan to China in 1945, the Diaoyu Islands should also have been returned to China as part of Taiwan.
And,
The recent push by the Japanese right-wing faction trying to illegally seize the Diaoyu Islands has been heating the confrontation between the Chinese and Japanese authorities. A most recent example is the Japanese government’s move to “nationalize” the Diaoyu Islands. Similar situation also took place between South Korea and Japan recently over the Dokdo Islands. The move has reopened the old wounds an imperialistic Japan inflicted upon the people of the region and fueling concerns about peace and stability in the area. The Japanese militarism and imperialist expansionism that underlie its ongoing provocation is a real and troublesome threat to the peace of East Asia and the world.
And,
As the world marks the 67th anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender that concluded World War II, people are still haunted by the memories of Japan’s militarism and imperialistic expansionism that propelled its invasion of Asia and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese government has never formally repented for its atrocities against the world. Its leaders continue to worship the Yasukuni Shrine where war criminals’ tablets are kept. Its right-wing activists have repeatedly sought to rewrite school textbooks to distort its war history. There are more signs that its extremists, in a heady dream with Japan’s pre-war “glory” in which violence and aggression were exalted, have been stepping up their attempt to revive Japan’s militarist past. This dangerous and peace-threatening movement has to be warned and stopped immediately.
Therefore,
To protest against Japan’s illegal “nationalization” of Diaoyu Islands, the Chinese community in Utah is organizing a rally, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Saturday September 15, 2012, at the Utah State Capitol.
The Chinese community and the residents in Utah will have their voice heard at this rally, along with any other peace-loving people throughout the world. We demand the Japanese government to immediately:
- Officially recognize the Diaoyu Islands are part of the Chinese territory,
- Refrain all the Japanese arm forces and unlawful Japanese citizens from occupying the Diaoyu Islands and its neighboring water,
- Constrain the Japanese right-wing militia from harassing the Chinese fishermen working in the neighboring water,
- Apologize to the Chinese people and the rest of the world about its wrongful actions to the Diaoyu Islands in the past.
Sincerely,
The Organizing Committee of “the September 15, 2012 Rally against Japan’s Illegal ‘Nationalization’ of Chinese Diaoyu Islands”
And the U.S. residents signed below
